Some computer systems currently include one or more input/output (I/O) slots, each for receiving an add-in I/O card, which can also be referred to as an interface card. Typically, each of these I/O card slots is connected to a controller adapter chip by an industry standard bus for peripheral add-in cards. The adapter chip controls this add-in card's bus. Each adapter chip is usually connected to the rest of its associated computer system with an internal I/O mid-bus thereby enabling an add-in I/O card connected to its corresponding I/O slot to access the computer system's CPU (central processor unit) and memory, and vice versa.
However, there are disadvantages associated with this type of configuration for a computer system. For example, one of the disadvantages is that once the computer system's I/O configuration has been physically implemented, there is usually not much flexibility with that configuration. For example, an I/O configuration may be physically implemented with several add-in card slots that support a particular communication bandwidth. However, when a new and improved interface card is introduced to the market that utilizes a communication bandwidth greater than that supported by any of the add-in card slots of the I/O configuration, the computer system is unable to utilize the new interface card. As such, the computer user typically either has to live with the limitations of their computer system or buy a more current computer system with the desired features.